Cycling and step count

I can't think of any way to force this to occur. When on a bike your are is not making the motions that the watch would interpret as steps.  Sometimes when I'm doing some technical mountain biking, the jarring the arms take during the ride will accrue some steps, but they are bogus and I wish it would not count them. 

They are two different activities, they should be counted differently.  The numbers should accurately represent each type of activity.  Steps are steps and miles are miles. Yes, they are both activity, and wouldn't it be nice to have some kind of summation.  That is effectively what "Intensity Minutes" is.  There is a mentality shift needed here.  The watch is a tool to help people recognize how they are doing on many aspects of their fitness.  If you put in fitness effort in one domain in a day, that may mean it is just fine to not have to hit every goal built into the watch in other aspects that day.  For example, if I put in an 80 mile training ride in the mountains one day, I don't expect to also put in 10,000 steps.  That ride is worth far more in fitness value than the steps.  

I'd ask what is driving the need for credit on the steps if you are already getting good fitness in in other dimensions in the day such as riding as you mention?  If the goal is simply to have the watch acknowledge your efforts, don't let the watch drive you.  Let a good fitness plan drive you.  There are even days you should NOT achieve 10,000 steps, or miles on the bike, etc..  The human body need recovery days, especially the performance athlete that pushes their body.  We've learned the value of recovery days.  This is part of why "Intensity Minutes" is a week long measure.  You are not needing to nail an arbitrary activity goal every day.  Look at it in the bigger picture.

For those driven to get every check mark for every activity tracked every day so that the system shows you have a long goal streak, what Garmin would be better served to do is let an individual simply force a check mark on an activity component for a given day.  I know best if I met my goal of that day because my goal changes day to day dependent on training design.  Many days I am NOT trying to achieve 10,000 steps for example.  But the step count or the mileage count across the week is at or well above target.

Good points mtsapilot. I do like the intensity minutes widget, I guess it was mostly my need for credit from the watch I think I was partly used to Fitbit as well which did convert pedaling strokes to steps (somehow), but it didn't acknowledge intensity which, if I think about it now, is a better indication of what I'm really putting in each week!

That is a very relevant answer to those who want to track fitness for their own purposes. Unfortunately, now that health insurance companies use step counts as part of their points system to receive discounts, every step matters. It would be great if, either the health insurance companies or the fitness tracking companies could convert all activity to a common currency. In the short term, maximizing step count is the only path forward. 

If you are absolutely compelled to count steps while bicycling, strap your Garmin to your ankle.

futaba911 said:

now that health insurance companies use step counts as part of their points system to receive discounts, every step matters. It would be great if, either the health insurance companies or the fitness tracking companies could convert all activity to a common currency

It's great your insurance company is giving you a discount based on steps you accumulate. But just because they are, it's not the responsibility of fitness device manufacturers to change how they count steps to accommodate them. It's something you should take up with your insurance company.  

Yes. Another way is to ride one handed and place your watch hand on your knee. It will pick up the movements/steps that way as a workaround I have found. I would recommend that only on stationary bike but you could do it on a outdoor bike too if you are careful. I am looking into pedometer wireless straps that may be able to sync with Garmin Connect too that might be able to be put on one's shoe as another option. I have not found that yet but if anyone knows of one or a similar gadget that would work let me know?

This is daft nonsense.  Walking and cycling are two different things

Buy a Fitbit. Activities are converted into steps automatically. This morning i had 34km MTB with my wife. My Garmin tracker shows 4400 steps, my wife's Fitbit 14000.

Great response by mtsarpilot. I used to be annoyed that I couldn't manage my step goal and fit in my bike rides due to time limits. However, I soon came up with two separate step goals - one for non-cycling days and one for cycling days. I manage my stats with this in mind and, although there's less science attached to my activities, it's only for my use and my benefit. No one oversees the figures and the graphs and I'm quite happy with my own measuring system, aided by Garmin.